For the Love of Jaune
by AnimeGirl 144
Summary: Jaune is pretty much a stud in the RWBY fanfiction. So here's a collection of one-shots featuring him paired with each of the girls in the RWBY universe (except for Cinder and Glynda). 07 - Velvet
1. Ruby

**Here's the start of the one-shots. None of them will be linked to the other; they're pretty much free-standing. This particular chapter takes place sometime before Episode 11.**

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"Jaune."

"Ruby."

"Do you need some...help?"

"No...no I'm fine."

"Jaune, you're hanging upside down from a tree limb," the Grim Reaper look-a-like stated, her brows furrowing in displeasure.

"Ahh I'm fine," Jaune said, attempting to wave away the concern.

"Jaune," Ruby said, this time with more stern in her voice, "you're hanging upside down from a tree limb _that Cardin put you in_."

"Who Cardin? Nawh," Jaune said, attempting to salvage whatever dignity he had left. "I just decided to straighten my back out."

"Straighten your back?" Ruby questioned with clear unamusement in her tone.

"Yes?" Jaune said, though it sounded more like a question than a response.

"Mhm," Ruby hummed in her obvious you're-a-liar-and-you-know-it tone. "Here, I'll help you down."

"Huh? Oh no, I can get down-" Jaune was interrupted by Ruby jumping up the branches and swiping the one he was stuck on.

Jaune hit the pavement rather roughly, though he was thankful that he had his armor on instead of his uniform. That would have been more painful. He heard a pair of feet land beside him, and felt a spike of jealousy for how skillful she was. A hand appeared in his field of vision, and he followed it up to Ruby's smiling face.

"Need a hand up?" she asked.

Jaune smiled a little, remembering when he had first met her; the places were reversed, however. He took her hand and let her help him up. And because he wanted to continue the parallelism between the first time they met and now...

Jaune gave a small laugh, "Aren't you crater girl?"

Ruby gave a little cry and gave him a playful little push.

"You jerk," she laughed.

"What? I think the nickname fits," Jaune said, laughing as well. "It's sort of like a superhero name."

"Oh really?" Ruby questioned, placing her hands on her hips as she seized him up. "If I'm Crater Girl, than you're my trusty sidekick Vomit Boy."

"Wha?! Sidekick!" Jaune questioned, looking theaterically horrified. "I am no sidekick!"

"Hmmm, you're right. You don't look anything like a sidekick," Ruby said with mock concentration. "You're taller than me. I guess we're my partner in crime."

"Partner in crime? I thought we were superheroes?" Jaune asked.

"We are," Ruby grinned. "We're just a team of Partners In Crime. P-I-C."

Jaune chuckled at her explanation of it.

"Well, you are the expert on this sort of thing, I'll leave you to handle the decision makings," the boy said with a grin.

"Of course; leave it to me!" Ruby said, striking a heroic pose before falling into a fit of giggles.

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted from the distance. "You dunce, we're supposed to be training!"

"Ooops! I forgot. I'm coming!" Ruby shouted to her partner. She turned back to Jaune, offering him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, but I gotta run or else Weiss will stab me...and I wouldn't put it past her to do that."

"I understand," he said, with a warm smile. "I don't want you to get stabbed or anything. We'll catch up later."

The girl gave him a stunning smile, and before he had time to process it, she got on her tippy-toes and pecked him on the cheek. She ran off while he stood there in surprise, watching her retreating form. He slowly raised his hand and touched his cheeks lightly, quite surprised by what had just happened in the timespan of the blink of the eye.

"Well...that happened," he said, quite stunned, though there was a small happy smile slowly forming on his face.


	2. Weiss

**I've finally been able to write this chapter! I'm still busy with school work, but I needed a break from it all, so I thought writing would be a good way to start. I should mention that these one-shots won't be on the side of romantic so much as affectionate-romantic. Sorry for those of you expecting major kissing scenes. ****This particular one-shot came out of an idea a while back that I decided to include for this collection.**

**For those wondering when **_We're Not a Team _**will be graced with an update, I can't give you a definitive date; I will get to the next chapter as soon as possible. I may even watch **_Avengers_ **again just to get my writing juices flowing.**

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Jaune wasn't raised on fairytales like Ruby and various other Vytalians were. Instead, he was told stories from the Great War that his family had fought in. He'd heard them all before, but his family made it a point to remind him constantly about his family's heroics.

So it came as a surprise to him when he found himself pulled into Team RWBY's room and found a resting Weiss on the bottom bunk of the team's self-made bunk beds. Blake, Yang and Ruby were commenting about Weiss' unusual sleeping habit. Ruby had been the one to pull him in while he had been glaring at his door, hoping it would have opened magically because he had forgot his card (again).

"Uhhhm why am I here?" Jaune asked.

"One, because you'd look like a dork standing out in the hall and yelling at your door," Yang explained.

"Oh come on! That was only one time," Jaune complained, feeling his cheeks heat up.

"And two, Ruby here thinks that you can awaken the sleeping princess with love's true kiss," Yang continued, pointing over her shoulder at the resting heiress.

Jaune's brain short-circuited at those words and he had to ask, "Excuse me?"

"You know, from fairytales!" Ruby said adamantly. "A dashing knight or hero goes and saves the princess with love's true kiss!"

"Excuse me?" Jaune repeated.

"Ruby, this isn't a fairytale. Those sorts of things won't work in the real world," Blake said, trying to be gentle while putting down Ruby's idea.

"Excuse me?" Jaune repeated yet again because that was all his brain was able to come up with.

"Jaune, how hard is the plan to you?" Yang asked in exasperation, tired of hearing him ask those two words. "Go over there, give Weiss a smooch on the lips, and then wait for the magic to happen."

"Don't break him before he has a chance to try," Blake admonished the blond girl, seeing the way Jaune's face had turned into a tomato.

"Oh please. Jaune, you've kissed a girl before, haven't you?" Yang questioned. The boy opened his mouth, but Yang beat him to it. "And no your mom doesn't count. Nor do any of your female relatives."

Jaune kept his mouth shut and his face turned an even darker shade of red, which spread to his neck and chest. Yang just blinked at the male in disbelief, muttering,

"Oh my God."

Ruby, however, squealed with delight.

"Oh this is perfect! True love's _first kiss_," Ruby squealed, her voice pitches higher in excitement.

Seriously, how was Weiss not awake!?

"What's this true love's first kiss deal! I have no idea what you're talking about!" Jaune cried out in despair.

"From fairytales silly!" Ruby giggled. "You know, _Cinderella_, _Sleeping Beauty_, _Snow White_! And so many more!"

"I don't know what any of those are," Jaune continued.

"You don't know what fairytales are?" Blake asked in surprise. "You've never read one before?"

"No, and no," Jaune answered.

The three girls looked at him in silence, and he felt himself shrink under their gazes. He really didn't like it with everyone looking at him like that.

"You've never kissed a girl, and you've never read a fairytale," Yang repeated with disbelief in her tone. "You poor soul."

"I was told stories of my dad and his dad and his dad going off to war and fighting for humanity, okay?!" Jaune responded, pouting.

"Well then, welcome to Fairytales 101!" Ruby exclaimed in delight, pushing him towards the bed. "First lesson, kiss the beautiful princess awake! Go!"

"Wait-huh!" Jaune cried as he was unceremoniously pushed to the side of Weiss' bed.

He looked up from where he was kneeling (because the push was strong enough to make him fall on his knees; which hurt, by the way) and came face to face with the slumbering heiress, who looked to be at peace in her rest. Jaune took a moment to study her, finding himself in awe at her beauty. He'd always admired her for being beautiful and deadly, but being close up and without her glaring at him was a different experience for him. He pretended that she _was_ asleep and that only his kiss could awaken her; that thought seemed to give him courage he would surely need to go through with it.

"Ruby, I don't think this is a good idea," Blake whispered from behind Jaune, although the boy could still hear her.

"I'm with Blake on this," Yang responded. "She might actually kill him."

"Oh relax. He'll be fine and they'll live happily ever after," Ruby said with total confidence in her voice.

_I hope, _Jaune thought, taking a deep breath before leaning in.

He wasn't very experienced with kissing (obviously), but he'd seen his parents do it, so it couldn't have been _that_ hard, right? And he moved in slowly, before his lips finally touched her. They were soft, and he didn't kiss very hard; just lightly.

But still, it was his first kiss, and damnit if he wasn't happy that it was with Weiss.

He felt her respond a little, and after a few seconds he pulled back to find Weiss opening her eyes, looking at him in slight confusion as well as something else that he couldn't identify. He heard a tiny squeal behind him and Ruby mutter out in delight, "I told you she'd wake up!" He tuned the rest of Team RWBY out and focused on the heiress (and he guessed she wasn't too mad because she didn't immediately go off on him). Continuing with the fairytale theme (and he'll start reading them now, just because of this), he greeted her softly with,

"Welcome back to the land of the awaken, snow angel."


	3. Blake

**I'm terribly sorry for the long wait; real life and other stories demanded my attention, and I found this to be one of the hardest chapters so far because I didn't want it to be forced since Jaune and Blake have not said one word to each other, at all. I wrote out different ways for the story to start before finally settling on it. Just for reference, this chapter takes place just a day or so after Jaundice Pt 2.**

**Also, in regards to the last chapter, I left it open-ended for all of you to come up with your own ending on how she'd react (ZecoreZecron, your review made me laugh). However, sometime down the road, I may address it in a separate story (or if any of you want to continue from there, be my guest). For now, I need to continue with the other girls. Most of the chapters will be more affectionate or pre-coupling, while a few will make it more obvious.**

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"Uhmm...Blake? Do you think you could help me?"

The cat-eared (secret) faunus looked up when she heard her name, and found her fellow student Jaune standing across from her, smiling nervously. In his hands was the textbook for Professor Oobleck's class, along with a notepad and pencil.

"Oobleck's assignment?"

Jaune nodded, still looking nervous. Blake sat her book down (recreational reading; it was already discovered that if she attempted to read in her own room, one of her three roommates would disturb her for ridiculous of reasons) and nodded to the empty chair across from her. He took the seat quickly, looking nervous as he did so.

"What part of the assignment don't you understand?" she asked.

"Uhm...all of it?" Jaune responded, sounding so unsure that it was almost a question and not an answer.

Blake held back her sigh and waved her hand at his book. He followed the instructions and quickly flipped his book open, finding the page their assignment began on. He then looked up at Blake, awaiting for her next instruction.

"Alright, so we're dealing with the Faunus Rights Revolution, which is more commonly known as the Faunus War," Blake began explaining. "Oobleck's assignment wants us to pick out a battle mentioned in our textbook and explain what happened, what the humans did, what the faunus did, the outcome, and how that battle has affected the present."

"And we can't use the Battle of Fort Castle, right?" Jaune asked.

"That's the only one we can't use because we went over that in class," Blake nodded. "How far have you gotten into the assignment?"

"Well I picked a battle, and what the humans and faunus did, and what the outcome was, but I'm stumped on the last requirement," Jaune admitted. "I'm not really sure how this battle is affecting modern times."

"What's the battle?" Blake asked.

"Uhmm..." Jaune said, closing his eyes to search for the name, "Battle of Hutch Pass."

Blake took a moment to wrack around her brain for the battle before finally remembering the battle.

"That was a small battle; one of the quickest battles next to Battle of Fort Castle. The humans had been developing a new weapon that they used, and it helped them win the pass quickly," Blake summarized.

Jaune nodded, flushing a little.

"It was the easiest to do," he responded, as if he was defending his choice to Blake.

"Hmmm," Blake hummed. "Well, you can probably look at how the victory for the humans is used in modern day, and then why the faunus' loss affects them in today's society."

The blond haired boy thought over her answer before giving a nod and a brilliant smile.

"That's a smart idea. Thanks Blake," he grinned. "You know a lot about the war."

Blake shrugged, flushing a little at the compliment; she wasn't used to it.

"I've had an interest in the war for a long time, so I did as much research on it as I could," the girl responded.

"I bet your paper will blow everyone's out of the waters," Jaune responded.

"Jaune, I've already helped you. You don't need to flatter me," Blake stated, trying to fight down her blush.

Jaune's face went an interesting shape of pink, and he began sputtering.

"I-I didn't mean - what I meant is - I... I can't speak right," Jaune muttered, hiding under the table.

Blake released a small chuckle, which was interrupted by Cardin's obnoxious voice calling for Jaune. The blond moaned, and Blake glared in Cardin's direction.

"What does that creep want with you?" she questioned the boy. "I thought he was picking on you."

"Yeah...he moved past that," Jaune sighed as he got up from under the table.

"So you guys are pals?" she asked.

Jaune tensed, pausing in collecting his school items.

"It's...uhm...complicated," Jaune responded, flinching when he heard Cardin call again. "Trust me."

"You can do better friends," Blake responded. "You're far nicer and kinder than that guy."

Jaune blushed and nodded.

"Thanks," he responded with a soft smile. "I'll see you around, yeah?"

"Yeah," Blake said with a soft smile. "Make sure your work gets done, alright?"

Jaune chuckled and nodded, heading over to where Team CRDL was awaiting, being pulled into a head-noogie, nearly dropping his school items. Blake watched from her table and shook her head. He was such a nice guy who didn't need to hang out with jerks like Cardin.


	4. Yang

**Another chapter finished, and we've hit our halfway point. I know I had just placed Blake's chapter out no more than four days ago, but I got in the mood to write and this happened. Think of it as a Christmas gift (or seasons gift for those who do not celebrate Christmas) from me to you lovely readers.**

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"C'mon puke boy," she chuckled. "Your Aura easily sucked up most of that hit. Get back on your feet."

Jaune took a deep breath to regain some stamina, and then shot back to his feet and ran at Yang. The girl smirked and raised her hands - gauntlet free, thankfully - in preparation for his attack.

Jaune and Yang were borrowing one of the empty rooms reserved for battle practice. As of a month ago, Yang had become Jaune's hand-to-hand combat teacher. He had decided to ask Yang to teach him it for a number of reasons. He was still taking lessons with Pyrrha, but she was teaching him how to use his weapon better. That was useful, but Jaune had wanted to learn more; he wanted to learn how to fight if his weapon was to be knocked out of his hand. Pyrrha was a good combat teacher, but Jaune didn't feel she would be very good at hand-to-hand, and while he had approached Ren about teaching him his skills, Jaune quickly found that he was not ready for Ren's style of fighting. That had led him to Yang, who was one of the only person he knew who's weapon was practically apart of them. She had taken to it enthusiastically, which made Jaune happy at first, until he realized how brutal she was with her lessons.

Jaune raised his arm up and set it up for a hit, but Yang easily dodged it and kicked him on his back as he stumbled past, sending him to the ground. He released a pained groan, while Yang chuckled again, reaching down and lifting him up off the ground. She gave him a strong slap on the shoulder, and he almost toppled over from it.

"You're doing much better than two weeks ago," she congratulated. "That's progress."

"Thanks," Jaune responded with neutrality, catching his breath.

"You want one more round to attempt to get your manhood back?" Yang joked.

Jaune knew he should have said no: his body was hurting, his breathing was still gone, and he really didn't want to limp back to his room, but the thought of getting just one more practice in appealed greatly to the blond-haired boy, and so he nodded his head in agreement. Yang smiled and gave him another pat, just as strong as the last.

"Excellent!" she stated happily, walking over to the other side of the room. "Tell me when you're ready."

Jaune took a few minutes to let his Aura return his stamina and heal some bruises, before giving a nod to his sparring partner. Yang grinned and ran at the taller boy, her arms in position to strike. Jaune decided to go on the defense instead of the offense like he had in earlier fights, and used all of Yang's lessons (and a few of Pyrrha's lessons) for the oncoming attack. He dodged out of the way, stumbling backwards a bit but he didn't get hit. He quickly recovered and went in for a punch, but Yang saw it coming. She gripped his wrist and sent him flying over her body. He fell to the ground, but quickly righted himself and rolled out of the way before the girl could slam her fist into his face.

"See I knew you'd learn quickly," Yang commented before attempting to hit him with the heel of her boot.

Jaune caught the foot and used his strength to throw her off her feet. She landed on her back with an "oof", but recovered quickly and was on her feet, seeing from her peripheral vision that Jaune was doing the same thing. Smirking, the girl ran for Jaune, keeping her body low and curled while readying her arm. Jaune was still getting used to balancing again that the hit to his jaw was a surprise, sending him stumbling backwards.

"Owh," Jaune muttered, taking the time to rub his jaw.

"No whining," Yang warned, running at him again.

_I'm really starting to regret agreeing to this, _Jaune thought as he watched her advance towards him.

Jaune waited until the last second to duck, grab her by the legs and haul her over his body. Yang went with the movement in shock, and found herself landing on her back. Jaune, however, had used up too much energy, and he fell with her, landing on top of her. Had Jaune been less tired, he may have blushed a thousand times and sputtered incoherently, but at the moment he was tired, and all he wanted to do was catch his breath. Yang pushed him off, causing him to lie beside Yang. Instead of getting up, the other girl moved her head to be cushioned on Jaune's stomach, causing the blond boy to blush a little.

"That was fun, lady killer," Yang said, with closed eyes and a smile on her face. "You've improved greatly." She stretches her arms out dramatically with a loud yawn before resting them behind her head (_still _on Jaune's stomach). "Take five, yeah?"

Jaune weighed his options, and there was not a chance he'd get out of the situation without having to physically move Yang. Plus, he was too tired to do that, as well as leave. So he closed his eyes and let himself relax.

"Yeah."


	5. Pyrrha

**I'm back with another chapter. We'll only have three more after this chapter, and since we're so close to the end and these drabbles don't take up a lot of time, I'm going to focus my energy on the last three chapters so I can get them out in a timely manner.**

**I hope you all enjoy.**

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Jaune was fidgety as he waited for Pyrrha to show up. He wasn't on their usual rooftop; he didn't want Cardin to overhear what he had to say to his partner. Oh sure, Cardin had become less of a bully towards him, but that didn't mean Jaune wanted him to overhear. So he had asked Pyrrha to meet him out by the front gate. He was nervous beyond belief, but he covered it up the best he could.

"Jaune?"

Jaune would not admit to having jumped when Pyrrha called his name; that did not happen. He turned and found her walking towards him in her school uniform; neither seemed to have bothered to change into their usual outfits (which doubled as their armor outfits). He coughed into his fist, pretending he was clearing his throat instead of forcing his nervous laughter to dissipate.

Pyrrha was calm and cool as she made her way over to her teammate. It made Jaune jealous of her calm demeanor. He was practically a nervous wreck while she was perfectly fine. Perhaps that's why they were partners; they were different in several ways, and they complimented each other almost perfectly. If he felt like he was losing faith in himself, she'd pick him up. If he didn't do a move right, she'd teach it to him correctly.

"Jaune? Jaune?" Pyrrha called. She wove a hand in front of her partner's face. "Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh. Ehehe, yeah," he greeted, coming back to reality. "Sorry. Just, uh, got a little absent minded."

"Okay," Pyrrha responded with a chuckle. "Well, is there a reason you called me out to the front gate?"

"Yeah," he answered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Uhm...I just wanted to say...thanks!"

"Thanks?" Pyrrha asked with a raised eyebrow. "You called me out to the front gate to say thanks?"

"Uhm...Not...not really," he answered, his shoulders slumping a little. "I mean I did- do want to thank you for helping me with my training and for being a great partner and friend and-"

"Jaune!" Pyrrha cut in, placing a hand on Jaune's shoulder, stopping him. "Take a deep breath and continue."

"Okay," Jaune nodded, doing as she advised. Once his nerves were calmed, he continued on. "I already thanked you for sticking by my side and just being an amazing friend and person, but it's not the real reason I wanted to talk to you here."

"Go on," Pyrrha goaded, looking a little hopeful.

"I just wanted to tell you that...that I..." he paused as he felt his whole body temperature rise up."I really, _really_ like you Pyrrha, and I really hope it doesn't ruin ou-" Jaune was cut off by a pair of arms wrapping themselves around his neck, _tightly_.

Pyrrha was grinning and holding Jaune in a bone crushing hug, but it was too tight.

"Oh Jaune!" she said happily, tightening her hold _even more_. "I've been hoping you'd say that!"

"Pyrrha. _Pyrrha_," he begged. "I can't breathe."

Pyrrha didn't seem to hear him and only held him tighter. Unable to get in air, Jaune promptly fainted, falling limp into Pyrrha's hold. It was only then that she realized something was off with Jaune. Pyrrha held Jaune out at arm's length and found him knocked out. Pyrrha gave a slight chuckle and shook her head, before moving him to her side and heading back to their room, a smile plastered on her face. Sure, this wasn't what she had envisioned when she fantasized Jaune confessing his feeling, but she'd rather have it than nothing at all.


	6. Nora

**I'm back with another lovely drabble. We're only two more away before the end of this collection, and I'm a little excited; I always feel good when I finish a story (especially considering the projects I am working on at the moment).**

**As always, enjoy, and feel free to review on whether you like the story or not.**

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Jaune had only a moment to think he heard someone coming up behind him before he found himself face first on the ground. He didn't bother wondering who had done it, because the answer was made obvious by the person only a moment later.

"Hiya Jauny!"

Jaune sighed as he craned his neck over his shoulder to see a very happy and smiling Nora sitting on his back, crushing his spine.

"Hello Nora," he greeted. "Is it alright if I can have my spine back now? I'd rather not have it broken or anything."

"Hmmmmm," Nora deliberated before responding with a, "nope."

"I thought not," Jaune responded, laying his forehead on the cool ground.

He could already hear whispers from the other students, but he paid them little mind. By now, Nora's reputation about acting out randomly was well-known, so the students did little more than simply comment about it while they continued on their way.

"Any particular reason you're on my back?"

"Because you're soft and squishy," Nora answered in giddy.

Jaune just hummed, not understanding why she'd think his back armor would make him soft and squi- wait a minute. "Are you calling me fat?!"

"Well you have been eating a lot of the pumpkin cake from the cafeteria," Nora commented. "In no time you'll look like Professor Port! Especially with that mustache of his."

Jaune just turned his head to give her a look that was a cross-breed between shocked and incredulous. Did Nora steal Professor Oobleck's coffee again, or something? He then paled at the thought of becoming like Professor Port. While the professor was nice and all...yeah, no. There was no way Jaune wanted to be Professor Port.

"Where did this come from?!" Jaune demanded.

"Just a dream I had," Nora shrugged.

"Of course," Jaune sighed. "A dream."

Nora giggled, enjoying her time. Jaune was always so fun to mess with (next to Ren, of course), and he usually just went along with whatever her mind cooked up, letting it run its course. It made her very happy to know him.

She stretched herself out and laid on his back. She was shorter than him, so she didn't align herself completely, but it was good enough for her. Jaune just sighed, admitted to himself that he was not going to get off the ground anytime soon, and just accepted his fate. Winning against Nora was next to impossible.

"Hey Jaune?" the orange haired girl spoke up after a few minutes of silently staring at the sky above her.

"Yeah Nora?"

"I'm really glad we're teammates," she answered. "You're really nice and you never get angry at me like other people do."

Jaune felt his shoulders loosen up as a smile crossed his face.

"I'm glad we're teammates too Nora," Jaune responded in turn. "You're full of energy and very loyal. And you always find a way to make me laugh."

Nora grinned and turned, wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a peck on his cheek.

"Awwh! Such flattering sweet talk!" she gushed.

Jaune's whole face lit up red as he noticed people stopping to glance at their PDA.

"Nora, people can see you hugging me," Jaune whispered.

"Let 'em!" Nora said with a grin and not a care in the world. "I'll just break their legs later!"

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**No; Nora stealing Oobleck's coffee has not been addressed in the show (and not in fanfiction to my limited knowledge), but I thought it'd be funny to add. I may address this issue later on in a one-shot though just for giggles.**


	7. Velvet

**With what little internet connection I have, I'm posting this. Just like with Blake's, it took me two times to finally get a starting I liked. I blame it on Cardin's involvement. Anywho, let's get this show on the road.**

**As always, I am still not Monty Oum. Not even close to being that guy.**

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Velvet wanted to kick herself; why was it so hard to say thank you to the knight-in-shining-armor who had just saved her from more of Cardin's and his cronies verbal abuse? Well, his armor wasn't shining, but imagery was imagery, and Velvet saw Jaune as a knight. As it stood at that time, Velvet was finding herself gawking at the other student's back, unable to force the knot in her throat so she could speak and express her gratitude.

Velvet would admit that she knew of Jaune for far longer than him coming to her rescue. She knew that he was another of Cardin's victims for reasons no one could figure out. She had heard about the rocket-locker incident and had felt anger at Cardin and sympathy for Jaune. She's had her ears pulled, he went to space. After that, she'd see Jaune around Cardin and that had wounded her greatly, although she had noticed that, from his body language, he was not in any way enjoying being with the company. And then almost a week of that, and Cardin went on a hiatus from bullying and Jaune was no longer with them. It was very confusing, especially to an outsider such as herself.

Cardin's abuse had only been a hiatus, and just when Velvet was beginning to enjoy the days where she wasn't ridiculed for her heritage, Cardin had started back up. He and his cronies no longer pulled at her ears, but they still mocked her. Today had just been another day they started up, having cornered her in the corridor on her way to class. She had been about to break down into tears when Jaune appeared out of seemingly nowhere. He pushed his way through the team and placed himself in front of her, glaring up at Cardin. He was taller than her, blocking her view of Cardin. The two leaders had a glare off before Cardin finally backed down and walked away with his team following close at his heels.

And that was how Velvet had gotten into the current situation, gawking like a fish at Jaune, who had turned his attention towards her and was offering her a kind smile.

"You okay?" he asked.

Velvet was proud of herself for not jumping out of her skin when he asked the question, and even more proud when she was able to respond.

"Yes," she answered, clearing her throat when she heard how raspy it sounded. "Yes, thank you. No one really sticks up for me."

"Well don't worry about that," Jaune responded with a confident smile. "He won't pick on you anymore. I've made it perfectly clear to him not to mess with my friends."

Velvet's face turned warm at his last statement, wondering briefly if he already considered the two friends or was using it as an invitation to become his friend. Either way, it was a win-win for Velvet who had developed a crush for the boy some time ago, when she had discovered he was going through a similar torment at the hands of their abuser.

"That's very kind of you," Velvet replied. "And very noble."

Jaune chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, giving her a bashful smile. Was he that unused to compliments?

"It was nothing," he commented. "I just don't like to see him abuse others. It's not right, you know?"

Velvet nodded whole-heartedly. Although she had already thanked her savior for coming to her defense and running Cardin away, she wanted to express her gratitude more. What was it that the girls in those cheesy romance novels her mother reads do when they wanted to thank the hero for the kind deed done? Velvet had racked her brain for the answer before finding it, and it made her blush. Could she really just boldly go and give Jaune a kiss for his bravery?

"So, uhm, I'll see ya in class, okay?" Jaune stated, bringing Velvet out of her thoughts.

She watched as the boy gave her a small wave and headed off for his next class. Biting her bottom lip in indecision, Velvet decided to just throw caution to the wind and chase after the retreating boy. Besides, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

_Oh I hope so,_ the faunus thought as she got closer to Jaune.

"Jaune, wait!" she called.

The blond haired boy turned to look at her with curiosity in his eyes. Velvet didn't bother to say anything; instead, she walked closer to him and gave him a quick peck on his cheek. The quick kiss didn't last very long, and was over before either students could blink. Still, Jaune was stunned by the action while Velvet blushed a lovely shade of lightish-red.

"Uhh..." Jaune attempted to say something, but he was so stunned by her action that his brain wasn't able to communicate anything.

Velvet fidgeted a little, her ears twitching in response to the nervousness she was no doubt radiating.

"It's my thank you," she explained. "For getting Cardin off my back. And for implying that we're friends. Or that you want to be friends. Which I do! I mean, if we're not already friends, I would like to be your friend because you're very kind and brave and...and yeah." _Way to go there Velvet. Nice way to ramble on like a dolt._

Jaune blinked, still stunned by the kiss and then Velvet's explanation.

"Uhh, yeah, we can be friends," Jaune responded.

Velvet beamed, still feeling awkward but giddy over the fact that Jaune considered her a friend. She didn't have very many due to her shy nature, so hearing this just made her day. Jaune's brain finally seemed to be working cause he managed to ask,

"Errr...do you want to sit with me and my friends at lunch?" Jaune asked, before clarifying, "If you're not already sitting with your team, that is."

Velvet briefly thought of her team. They were nice, treated her kindly, did the best they could to defend her from Team CRDL but they were always scattered when lunch time came around. Having a group of people to eat with was very appealing to the girl, even if she knew them as acquaintances from class and nothing more (but Blake would be there, so maybe it would be alright, and all eight of them seemed to be nice, so maybe this would go well for her). She gave a nod with an accompanying noise of approval.

"I'd really like to, Jaune," Velvet answered, smiling meekly.

Jaune gave a nod, smiling just as meekly.

"Right, uh... see you at lunch. Or class. Or, er, both," he responded.

Velvet giggled a little and nodded, which she found she was doing a lot within such a short time span.

"Right, see you then," she said in lieu of a goodbye, and headed off for her next class (which she didn't have with Jaune), feeling bubbly about what just happened.

Jaune was practically rooted to the ground, wondering if what just happened was all but a dream and not reality. The slap to the cheek he gave to himself confirmed that he was not sleeping; he was in the real world.

_Dad was right, _Jaune thought in surprise. _Confidence was all I needed._

A small smile creeped its way onto his face as he finally found the ability to command his legs to walk, heading off to class in a rather good mood. Maybe things were finally going Jaune's way.

* * *

**I wish Velvet was used more just so I can have better standing on Velvet's character. I based her personality shown here from the show and how she would act, so this relies heavily on self-interpretation of her character.**

**I've placed up a poll on my profile about whether or not I should include Penny in this collection. I had originally planned on it when Episode 15 came out, but when Episode 16 rolled around and I realized that her inclusion in Vol. 2 was going to be shaky, I decided against it. However, after watching reruns of RWBY, I'm conflicted on whether or not Penny should be included. So, a poll has been placed up to see if you readers would or would not enjoy Penny's inclusion. Please go there and vote for either "Yes" or "No". Your response for either of them is greatly appreciated!**

**And yes, I did include a Donutism. I have no regrets.**


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